Why does the Earth's gravity not pull the moon into a decaying orbit?

Answer 1

look!!! I can copy other peoples answers too.
who ever started this copying SHtuff is a LAME-O

well sweetie , Gravity does not cause orbital decay. Friction does. Low Earth orbit satellite orbits decay because they are not above all the of the atmosphere. There is about 0.0000001% of the atmosphere up as high as low satellites and that causes a very small friction force that gradually slows the orbit over a long period of time, and that is the cause of orbital decal. There is no air up as high as the Moon, or even at the altitude of geostationary satellites which are only about 1/10 of the way to the Moon. So geostationary satellite orbits do not decay. Geostationary satellites will never spiral down and enter the atmosphere. I hope this helps good question . have a great week . -B-

Answer 2

An object, such as the moon, will tend to continue with the same motion unless acted on by some force (such as gravity). When a force is a applied to a body at right angles to the motion, the effect is to cause the motion to change direction, but the speed remains the same. In the case of the moon the gravitational force causes the body to continue in an approximately circular orbit around the Earth. The orbit doesn't decay because there is no force acting in the opposite direction of motion that would cause it to slow down.

In the case of our moon, the actual situation is considerably more complicated. The orbit isn't a perfect circle, so the moon slows down and moves farther away, then speeds up and gets closer. At apogee, the moon is more than 10% further than at perigee, when it is closest. The actual distance varies over time. It approximately follows an elliptical orbit according to Kepler's laws, with deviations due to the gravitational force of the Sun. There is also the effect of tides, which in the case of the moon and earth, actually gives the moon a little push.

Answer 3

do no longer understand what you recommend by ability of a "gravity pull".... each and every thing that takes place at recent, orbitally speaking, is the end results of all diverse gravitational forces that impact the earth and the moon. that's been working enormously lots for many billions of years, and could proceed to realize this for an prolonged time into the destiny. there is no different merchandise interior the image voltaic device or our galaxy which will without warning intervene on the orbits of the earth or moon and reason any form of disruption. Asteroids and comets have not got something on the element of the mass needed to make even a tiny distinction in our orbit.

Answer 4

well sweetie , Gravity does not cause orbital decay. Friction does. Low Earth orbit satellite orbits decay because they are not above all the of the atmosphere. There is about 0.0000001% of the atmosphere up as high as low satellites and that causes a very small friction force that gradually slows the orbit over a long period of time, and that is the cause of orbital decal. There is no air up as high as the Moon, or even at the altitude of geostationary satellites which are only about 1/10 of the way to the Moon. So geostationary satellite orbits do not decay. Geostationary satellites will never spiral down and enter the atmosphere. I hope this helps good question . have a great week . -B-

Answer 5

Decay usually happens when a satellite brushes against the atmosphere in low orbit. The moon is much too high for that.

The moons orbit is actually getting higher because the tidal bulge is dragged by the earths rotation ahead of the moon. This is slowing the earth's rotation and increasing the moon's orbital speed.

PSF-11, you are close, if you mean by retreating that the moon is moving away from the earth.

Answer 6

Gravity does not cause orbital decay. Friction does. Low Earth orbit satellite orbits decay because they are not above all the of the atmosphere. There is about 0.0000001% of the atmosphere up as high as low satellites and that causes a very small friction force that gradually slows the orbit over a long period of time, and that is the cause of orbital decal. There is no air up as high as the Moon, or even at the altitude of geostationary satellites which are only about 1/10 of the way to the Moon. So geostationary satellite orbits do not decay. Geostationary satellites will never spiral down and enter the atmosphere.

Answer 7

Oh my, the ocean beating on the shores slows the moons rotation??? What do they teach in school these days???
The moon is what causes the tides in the first place. The Earth's gravity holds the moon in it's orbit, but the orbit will not decay due to no resistance. Space is a vacuum.

Answer 8

I can't give you a very scientifically specific answer but I do know that the slowing rotation of the Earth, caused by the waves beating on the shores, causes resistance on the rotation if the moon in its orbit. This causes it to actually retreat in its orbit. Orbits of manmade objects, for example, tend to decay from hitting into air molecules in the upper atmosphere. This obviously doesn't happen to the moon.

I welcome any corrections to my post-- though I think this is the bsic answer.

Answer 9

It's not strong enough. In fact the Moon is slowly moving away from us, moving about a millimeter a year. So in a few million years the moon will be so far away that it will be under it's own gravity.

Answer 10

Centrifugal force throws it out and gravity pulls it in. Together they come up with the compramise of where the moon is.